Hypodermic syringe and aspirating ampoule thereof



Nov. 2, 1954 M. 1.. LOCKHART 2,693,184

HYPODERMIC SYRINGE AND ASPIRATING AMPOULE THEREOF- Filed Dec. 1, 1951 40 NVENTOR fizz /41.4 4 loam 4W7:

T wmjfimygm w HYPODERMIC SYRINGE AND ASPIRATING AMPOULE THEREOF Marshall L. Loekhart, Rutherford, N. J assiguor to The vCornpule Corporation, Rutherford, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 1, 1951, Serial No. 259,471

7 Claims. (Cl. 128218) The present invention relates to hypodermic syringes for subcutaneous injecuon of ampule contents and, more particularly, to such devices equipped with means readily to provide a show of blood for ready guidance of proper subcutaneous insertion as referred to in my prior Patent No. 2,556,331 of June 12, 1951.

A general object of the present invention is to provide such hypodermic syringe structures, and parts thereof, which areunusually simple in construction, readily produced on an economical basis, and easily assembled and efliciently used; and which feature ampule aspirating means effectively to assure a show of blood.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide in such hypodermic syringe devices ampule aspirating bulb means serving to close off one end of an ampule having its other end closed off by a needlepierceable piston-plug to be driven forward into said ampule by a piston post in the casing as the ampule is telescoped thereinto, the aspirating bulb means effectively serving in a simple manner as a thrust member for the. ampule to telescope the latter into the casing for expulsion of contents through the bore of a doubleended hollow needle having its inner end extending beyond the post for puncture of the piston plug.

,Another object of the present invention is to provide such ampule structure for that type of hypodermic syringe which is equipped with blood telltale piston plug means that will facilitate observation of a show of blood.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide structural embodiments, of such hypodermic syringe devices and aspirating ampules thereof which are readily and economically constructed and which permit eflicient use, operation and functioning thereof, as will be more fully apparent from the following descriptions of the embodiments illustrated by way of example the accompanying drawing. I

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the constructions hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature-and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is an axial section of an embodiment of the hypodermic syringe casing designed to receive and employ as barrel and piston means ampules-of the present invention, one embodiment of which is shown therein in section in axially aligned'position to be telescoped into the casing;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged axial section of the ampule shown in Fig. 1, showing its piston plug seated against the casing piston post (partly in section and broken away) with puncture of the plug by the needle'and illustrating aspiration of the ampule for a show of blood by manipulation of the ampule thrust cap;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, but with all parts of the piston post omitted, illustrating aspirating action with use of another form of the piston plug particularly designed for facilitating observation of a show of blood, with parts of the plug in elevation and parts in section; v I

'Fig. 4 is a sectional detail of the left end of Fig. 3 showing in elevation the blood telltale plug thereof as l atented Nov. 2', 1954 viewed from a point at 90 to the position from which it is viewed in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of the structure shown in Fig. 4 as viewed from the right end thereof, with the ampule tube sectioned;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4, illustrating a modified form' of blood telltale piston plugstructure shown partly in section; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawing, in which like numerals identify similar parts throughout, it will be seen that an embodiment of the present invention may comprise the hypodermic syringe assembly shown in Fig. 1 consisting of a socketed casing unit 10 carrying a double-ended hollow hypodermic needle or cannula 11 anda loaded ampule 12. The casing unit 10 may conveniently be formed as a molded cylindrical tubular body of suitable rigid plastic material closed off at one end to provide a head 13, through which is anchored, preferably in the molding, the mid-portion of a hollow needle or cannula 11. A piston post 14 is concentrically located in the cylindrical casing 10 and extends inwardly coaxially from the head 13. Conveniently such piston post structure 14 may be, as shown, a cup-shaped or cylindrical structure arranged about the needle, with the latter extending i therethrough so that the needle inner end 15 is located appreciably beyond the inner end 16 of the piston post. Casing 10 may include laterally-extending engaging structure 17, either in the form of opposed wings or a circular flange,'to serve as finger-engaging means or to facilitate grasp thereof. Injection hollow needle 11 has an outer injecting end 18. The inner wall of cylindrical casing 10 and the outer wall of cylindrical piston post 14 provide therebetween a receptive circular or cylindrical groove 100 circumambient of the post and into which the end of a tubular barrel or ampule structure may be slid.

T he loaded ampule 12 preferably comprises an elongated section 19' of cylindrical tubing of light-transmitting material, preferably transparent, such as glass, substantially rigid plastic or the like. Ampule tube 19 is closed at its leading end 20 by a piston plug 21 of any suitable needle-pierceable material, such as rubber, elastic plastic, etc., slidably received therein as shown. Such piston plug 21 preferably has the usual axial pocket or recess 22 to define a relatively thin end wall or outer sealing portion 23 through which the inner needle end 15 is readily pierceable for communication of the bore of the latter with the chamber provided by the interior of ampule tube 19. The trailing or outer end 24 of 4 ampule tube 19 is closed off by thrust means 25 to confine Within the ampule a body 26 of injectable medicinal liquid.

The thrust means 25 is preferably in the form of a cap, having an inner cylindrical tubular portion or hol- 'low neck formed by a concentric coaxially-extending contouredfor facilitating engagement thereof by the operators thumb. The central or middle portion 28 of cap end 27 constitutes a relatively-thin, flexible cross wall-closing off an axial pocket 29 in communication with the ampule chamber in which liquid body 26 is confined, so that thrust cap 25 also may serve as an aspirating bulb, as will be more fully understood by reference to Fig. 2. As shown, the bore 30 of hollow neck 26 communicates through a hole 31 with partially collapsible pocket chamber 29, to form an aspirating bulb in the preferred form of the thrust cap 25.

In operation, the operator thrusts the injecting outer end 18 of the needle 11 subcutaneously into the patient and aligns a selected loaded ampule 12 with the open end of the casing 10, as shown in Fig. l. The leading end 20 of ampule 12 is moved forward to the dot-dash line position shown at 32 in Fig. 1 so that the inner end 15 of the needle pierces through the piston plug end wall 23 to the pocket 22 to extend beyond the inner end 33 of the piston plug to an observable position, such with' a ,vein..

3 as. indicated in Fig. 2. In such relative positions, the. outer end 16 of the piston post 14 engages the outer end 330 of the piston plug, assthere indicated. The operator then with his thumb or ,a fingerapplies pressure to the bulb cross" wall "28 'to cause: itftlo, flex. inwardly from the outer full line position shbwn in Fig. l indicated in'dotted lines at34 in.Fig. '2, ,to thelinnerfull line position shown in Fig. 2. Asa result, the internal capacity of the ampule chamberfisreduced' and when the elastic flexible cross. wall 28 is released [to permit itto snapout to the dotted lir iefouter. position 134, an

aspirating action is developed so thatblo'od willgae drawn' through the needlebore to be observing; att e needle inner. end 15.ifv the ,needle bore is in communication 'Such :a'spiratin'g action is indicat'ed by the arrows at35.

. If the liquid' medicament.- is intended for. intravenous injection, such. showv of; blood will assure the operator that he may properly proceed "with the" injection by thrusting the loaded .ampule12' forward with pressure appliedthereto, such as by the digit-engageable thrust cap 25, to telescope amuple tube '19 down into the circular recess 100 with piston post 14 sliding piston plug 21 back into the ampule tube. As the ampule tube 19 is so telescoped into the casing 10, the body 26 of liquid medicament will be expelled through the needle bore. If, however, the medicinal preparation is intended for. intramuscular injection, then such preliminary show of blood will, of course, dictate to the operator removal of the injecting end 18 of the needle and relocation thereof. V

Some medicinal liquid preparations are of a relatively high degree of opacity, and thus may make difficult observation of a show of blood at 35 at the inner end of the needle. Such. difiiculty may be readily overcome in a manner suggested in Fig. 3. 7 As, therein proposed, piston plug 21 of theFigs. 1 and 2 embodiment may be replaced by a blood telltale piston plug 121. Such blood telltale plug 121 may comprise a substantially cylindrical piston plug bodyof suitable rubber, elastic plastic material, or the like, having in one side thereof/a transversely-extending notch 122 deep enough to bring it into communication with the bore of the hypodermic needle 11 when the foreshortened inner end 115 of the latter is thrust through the outer portion 123 of the piston plug inthe manner indicated in Fig. 3. Communicationbetween the pocket or chamber provided by the notch 122 and the interior of the ampule tube 19 may be effected by means of a longitudinally-arranged groove 36 extending from that notch to the inner end 133 of the blood telltale piston plug 121. Of course, a plurality of such grooves may be provided as is illustrated in Fig. 6,

and. such groove36 obviously need not: extend substam tially parallel to the axis of the plug.

Such blood telltale piston plug structure 121 and its action will be readily understood by reference to Figs. 3, 4 and 5. Observation of flowing blood is facilitated by confining it to a channel juxtaposed to the inner face of a portion of the ampule tube 19 as defined by pocket 122 and groove 36 for ready observation at that point upon aspiration of the ampule in a manner similar to that indicated above.

Blood telltale piston plug structure may be provided in a modified form, such as that proposed in Figs. 6 and 7. One section 221 of such piston plug structure may be similar to the piston plug of the Figs. 1 and 2 embodiment but possibly somewhat shallower or thinner as shown, and formed with a similar recess or cup 222 to which the inner end 115 of the hypodermic needle 11 extends after thrust through the outer portion 23 of that plug section. A second rear plug section 38 is provided to seat against the rear face 233 of plug section 221. Such rear plug section 38 may, as will be understood from Figs. 6 and 7, have the circular edge of itsfront fact 39 chamfered off at 40 to provide a circular groove or closed circumambient or annular channel when both plug sections 221 and 38 are disposed within the ampule tube 19. Annular channel 40 is communicated with recess 222 by means of a cross groove 41. Communication between annular channel 40 and the interior of the ampule tube or ampule chamber in which medicinal body 26 is confined is effected by means of one or more 1ongitudinally-extending grooves 136, and such structure wherein a plurality of such channels are provided assures that blood may be observed from any position about i ampule. Plug section,

f cour e. may be... Qrm of elastic material similar to that from which the other piston plugs may be moldedgjor may be, if desired, of different material of either less or greater elasticity.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efi icienly attained and, since certain changes maybe made inthe above construction and difierent embodiments of the -invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to "cover "all of the generic and specific features of the inventionherein described, and all statementsof the scope of the invention which, as a matter of langauge, might besaid to fall therebetween.

'Having described byinvention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

' l. A hypodermic syringe ampule for fuse'with a syringe structure including piston' pos't-r'neans having a free innerend and a double-ended syringe needle extending longitudinally throughs'aid-- post' means; said n eedle" having-"an inner-end extending appreciably beyond the inner end of =said post means; the ampule "comprising, in combination, a substantially" tubular light-transmitting hypodermic syringe barrelslidablyreceivable of said piston post-means, -apis'ton plugslidably received in one end of said ampule and-closing the-sanie, and

digit-'engageable thrust-applyingaspirating-bulb means closing th'e other end of said'ampulebarrel with abody of injectable medicament confined between-it an'ds'aid piston plug; 'and'- said' b'ulb means having a latera1ly-projetting portion abutting thelast-mentioned end ofsaid,

ampule barrel to prevent inward sliding in the latter when manual thrust is applied to said'bulbfmeans whereby the ward over -said post a means; saidpisto'riflplug, b'ein'g needle-pierceable for puncture by the inner. end of said double-ended-syringe needle to permita showof blood thrust'is transmitted to 'said barrel to telescope it lforin the vicinityofsaidneedleinner ehd' when said bulb- 1s aspirated with the needle bore-in communication with a blood vein, said-.pistonplug being slidable' upinto said ampule bysaid pistonpost means with telescope of'said ampule thereover-for expulsion-of-contents. 2.- A hypodermic-"syringe ampule comprising a single chamber section'of a transparent tube of substantially.

uniform diameter: throughout; I a needle pierceable piston plug. slidably. received in and closing one'end of said post mounted} substantially: coaxiallydnrsaid:socketiand' carrying a double-ended hollow injectingt needleLwith the inner .end. ,of the, latter projecting I up; from; the post,

a: substantially tubular transparent:ampule iproviding a, slngle medicament-housing zchambe'r between its opposite ends and telescopically; received in saidisocket for telescope down over saidnpost a :needle-pierceable fpiston plug inserted I v be -slid into thelatterbysaimpost and havingan outer sealing. portion pierceable rby said inner .needletend; for: communicatlng the, needle, bore withthe interior-:of-saicl; ampule for a show of blood in the latter, and an aspirating bulb cap closing :the. trailing tend of said ampuleito'define with the latter said chamber between. it, and-,said said. capgbel ng: adapted rte-aspirate .said.

P s I p chamber and serve. as a thrust member for-said ampule. .14. The hypodermic syringe as defined in claim a 3' ich'a'r acterized by saidp iston plug being provided with blood telltale recess means in. ;$=0minunication ith. said chain benand communicable with the .needlebore when said needle inner end is pierced through said sealin g'portipn, said recess meansbein'g losed on the side ;-by a. Portion oi the wall of said transparent ampule for observation of blood therein through the latter. i 5 i said chamber'and the needle bore when said needle iii- .in the leading end ,of said 31111311161 to ner end is thrust through said piston plug sealing portion with a portion of the passage disposed immediately adjacent the inner face of said ampule wall portion for ready observation of blood flow thcrethrough.

6. The structure as defined in claim 5 characterized by said recess means comprising a pocket to which said needle inner end is pierceable and a restricted channel in the side of said plug communicating said pocket with said chamber.

7. A hypodermic syringe comprising, in combination, a casing having an ampule-receptive socket, a plunger post mounted substantially coaxially in said socket and carrying a double-ended hollow injecting needle with the inner end of the latter projecting up from the post, a substantially tubular transparent ampule providing a single medicament-housing chamber between its opposite end and telescopically received in said socket for telescope down over said post, blood telltale piston plug means having at least an outer portion of needle-pierceable material and inserted in and closing off the leading end of said ampule to be slid into the latter by said post with telescope of said ampule into said casing for expulsion of chamber contents through said needle, said piston plug means having at least one longitudinally-extending blood telltale groove in its side surface extending from its inner end to said outer portion and means providing a passage from said groove to the plug means interior at a point to which said needle inner end is pierceable for communication between the needle bore and the ampule chamber, and an aspirating bulb cap closing the trailing end of said ampule to define with the latter said chamber between it and said piston plug means, said cap being adapted to aspirate said chamber and serve as a thrust member for said ampule.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,783,956 Cook Dec. 9, 1930 2,460,039 Scherer et al. Jan. 25, 1949 2,514,883 Lockhart July 11, 1950 2,554,744 Iorgensen May 29, 1951 2,556,331 Lockhart June 12, 1951 

